JAKE TAPPER: Your state's attorney general, Dana Nessel, charged almost a dozen individuals from the University of Michigan over the anti-Israel protests. Among the charges: attempted ethnic intimidation, assaulting or obstructing a police officer, and on and on. These are pro-Palestinian protesters who- who were being punished and prosecuted. Michigan Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who is Palestinian- she called the charges from Nessel, who is Jewish “shameful” and Tlaib said, quote: “it seems that the Attorney General decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently. And that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs”, unquote. Nessel responded by saying, quote: ‘Rashida Tlaib should not use my religion to imply I cannot perform my job fairly as attorney general, it's anti-semitic and wrong”, unquote. Do you think that Tlaib’s suggestion that Nessel's office is biased was anti-semitic?
GRETCHEN WHITMER: Listen, Jake, you know what? All I can say is that I know that our Jewish community is in pain, as is our Palestinian and Muslim and Arab communities in Michigan. I know that seeing the, you know, incredible toll that this war has taken on both communities has been really, really challenging and difficult. And my heartbreaks for so many. But as Governor, my job is to make sure that both these communities are protected and respected under the law in Michigan. And that's exactly what I'm going to stay focused on.
TAPPER: But do you think Attorney General Nessel is not doing her job? Because Congresswoman Tlaib is suggesting that she shouldn't be prosecuting these individuals that Nessel says broke the law, and that she's only doing it but because she's Jewish and the protesters are not. That's quite- quite an accusation. Do you think it's true?
WHITMER: Like I said, Jake, I'm not going to get in the middle of this argument that they're having. I can just say this. You know, we do want to make sure that students are safe on our campuses and we recognize that every person has the right to make their statement about how they feel about an issue, a right to speak out. And I'm going to use every- every lever of mine to ensure that both are true.